Thoughts on Cleric Domains

[Omand]

Hello,

So, I have been working on the cosmology of my home-made campaign and have been thinking about portfolios of deities, etc.

This has, of course, brought on thoughts about cleric domains to match portfolios.

I am a conservative buyer of books compared to many on the boards here, so I am looking for some help/advice/ideas from others. Plus, I am just throwing out ideas for people to chew over.

To the point. Three questions, basically:
1) Which domain concepts do you feel really should have been in the core rules (general)? Supplemental to this, which domains should have been core that are not (from existing WotC or other products)?
2) Which domains should be consolidated in the upcoming Complete Divine to have a one stop shop for domain hunters like myself?
3) Which existing domains just don't really work, or need to be re-worked?


I'll start:

1) I think Darkness, Pain/Suffering, some form of Weather/Storm domain, some form of Skilled/Crafting domain, a good "Death" or Afterlife Domain, some form of Justice domain and some sort of Beauty/Charm type concept shoud have been core.

Now OK, most of those have been added in other products, but I hate flipping through three books to find them all.

In terms of what should have been core - Artifice from D&DG, Community from BoED (and other sources), Repose from D&DG.

2) I think the three I have just mentioned above should be consolidated in Complete Divine, along with concepts as listed at the top. I would also like to see some form of Plague/Disease domain, a Pain domain that does not rely on the Liquid Pain idea in BoVD, and one unified Darkness domain, as opposed to the three WotC versions currently in existence and who knows how many others (see FRCS, BoVD, D&DG).

3) Well, I think I have the most problem with the Pain domain in the BoVD. It just does not work for my campaign, but I do have a God of Pain and Suffering and would love to give him something more appropriate than Destruction or Strength.

Ok, lots of rambling there. Hopefully people can make sense of it all.

Cheers

 

[the Jester]

Personally, I think all of the old 2e spheres should have at least been represented in the 3e domain system. Sure, maybe we wouldn't have a domain of Wards and another of Guardian, but there should be something (ok, arguably protection, but...)

I think the following are missing from the core rules: darkness, time, thought, charm, craftsmanship, civilization, love, hate, weather.

I think the following would be awful cool to have in the core rules: the FR racial domains, a good slime domain (not sure how the FR one is), fear, art, seals/wards/guardians.

I have a ton of custom domains for my campaign, btw.

 

[ManicFuel]

I haven't seen teh BoVD, but the only difference in the FR and D&DG versions of the Darkness domain is the 5th level spell. Of the domains I've seen reprinted by WotC, there have been few if any changes.

Glaring ommisions from core: Love/charm/beauty, music, art/crafts, weather/rain, community. These are core concepts of civilizations.

From a game mechanics perspective, I'm all for more domains of any sort. It makes it easy for a player to get a handle on what a deity is all about when you can be specific with the domains. The evil gods all seem to have Chaos, Evil and Destruction - I have to invent and explain the differences. Add Pain, Darkness, Torture, Deceit, and maybe Lolth will look different than Maglubiyet. I generally don't think there should be much difference between the portfolios and the domains, and the mecahnics should reflect that.

What I'd really like to see is a variant cleric that gets ALL its class abilities from the domains. I have a hard time picturing a priest of Amaterasu walking around in full plate clubbing things. Is that what the 2e "spheres" were all about? I skipped that edition.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

What I'd really like to see is a variant cleric that gets ALL its class abilities from the domains. I have a hard time picturing a priest of Amaterasu walking around in full plate clubbing things. Is that what the 2e "spheres" were all about? I skipped that edition.

No, that was what specialty priests (priests of different mythoi) were all about. Spheres just determined which spells you had access to.

 

[green slime]

.

... a good slime domain ....

HOORAY!

 

[Omand]

Hey all,

Thanks for all of the posts so far. Some interesting info in there.

ManicFuel,

The BoVD Darkness domain is quite different from the D&DG one. I do not have the FRCS, so I cannot compare things there (although I had been told there was a Darkness domain in the book).

All,

I cannot compare things to 2E, as I went from 1E to 3E with roughly a 12 year hiatus in between. From what I have read on boards, etc., however, spheres are not what I am looking for for flavour purposes.

I am agreeing with pretty much all I am seeing here, except for racial domains. That is a personal preference thing, however, as I use one pantheon for all races in my campaign (or two if you consider the good and evil deities separate).

Keep those ideas coming guys.

Cheers

 

[maggot]

1) Which domain concepts do you feel really should have been in the core rules (general)? Supplemental to this, which domains should have been core that are not (from existing WotC or other products)?

For my world, I needed Darkness, Pain/Suffering, AfterLife, Disease, Cold, Commerse, Justice, and Nobility. Weather/Storm would have been nice as well as some more specific Animal domains: Reptiles and Birds mainly, but maybe Fish as well.

2) Which domains should be consolidated in the upcoming Complete Divine to have a one stop shop for domain hunters like myself?

I'm hoping the consolidate them all and give us plenty of choises. Selfishly, I'd like all the above domains.

3) Which existing domains just don't really work, or need to be re-worked?

I need a Darkness/Night that is not evil, and an Death/AfterLife that is no tied into making undead. In 3.0, I needed a luck domain that was not tied into good, but that is fixed now. An Evil domain that does not involve the undead would be useful as well.

 

[jerichothebard]

Monte Cooke's Book of Eldritch Might II has a music domain, although I am not fond of it. The granted power (+1 caster level on all spells with verbal components) seems overly powerful to me. All spells w/ verbal components = almost every spell in the book.

And, since the spells in Song and Silence, which encompass a lot of music-based spells for bards, are not OGL content, a lot of spells that would/could/should otherwise be in there are missing.

Anyone know, offhand, if there is a music domain in some other source? I could use it for my campaign, and (to get back on topic) it should probably have been core. Correllon, the god of bards, without a music domain? For shame!


jtb

 

[Omand]

jerichothebard,

Music, yes definitely. Why didn't I put that on my list? I mean, my goddess of beauty/love is also the goddes of music. It should have twigged.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers

 

[ManicFuel]

Here is my house-ruled Music domain (with some spells from S&S), please season to taste:

Music Domain

Granted Power: Gain the bardic music ability, usable a number of times per day equal to one-half your cleric level, rounded down (minimum 1/day). These uses are in addition to any uses of bardic music you may have from actual bard levels. Perform is a class skill.


Music Domain Spells
1 - Joyful Noise (Song and Silence)
2 - Sound Burst
3 - Emotion
4 - Shout
5 - Song of Discord (Song and Silence)
6 - Fanfare (Song and Silence)
7 - Power Word, Stun
8 - Otto's Irresistible Dance
9 - Wail of the Banshee